Kokua Line June Watanabe

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Hot parked cars can be fatal for dogs

Question: My son is a parolee. I feel he is being harassed by his parole officer. Who can I contact to file a complaint?

Answer: Normally, the procedure is to go through the parole officer's supervisor.

But Tommy Johnson, administrator for the Hawaii Paroling Authority, said if you're not comfortable doing that, he would take a look at your son's case to see if there might be any "irregularities."

"If a parole officer is doing something inappropriate, then we'll address it immediately," he said. "But more often than not," Johnson said, it turns out that the parolee just "doesn't like the terms and conditions of parole that the parole board set, and the parole officer is just enforcing those terms and conditions."

Auwe

To the owners of a Jack Russell terrier who left their dog in their Toyota SUV with all the windows closed, parked in the hot sun at the Pearl Highlands Shopping Center at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 22. A woman with two young children left only a one-eighth-inch opening in the sunroof. After 25 minutes he was lying flat on the back seat, his body pumping horrendously for air, his tongue hanging out. If I had not informed employees at Pier 1 to page the owner, that poor dog would probably not have survived. Please, do not leave any animal in a car with the windows closed in the hot sun. -- M. Ishimine

With summer approaching, this is a good warning to pet owners.

If anyone witnesses an animal in distress within a vehicle, the Hawaiian Humane Society advises contacting mall security, the Honolulu Police Department or the humane society itself.

Police and humane society officers can break into a vehicle if an animal is in imminent danger, a humane society spokeswoman said.

Based on the license plate number you provided, the humane society was planning to send a letter to the owner of the vehicle, along with a brochure.

"At this point the best we can do is educate them and document the case," the spokeswoman said.

The humane society says that even 10 minutes for a short errand could be too long for a pet left in the car on a hot day.

Leaving the windows cracked will not cool the car enough to protect the animal.

By then the temperature inside the car could reach 160 degrees, hot enough to cause heatstroke and possibly cause permanent brain damage.

If emergency care is not given, the pet could die, the spokeswoman said.

Pet owners are advised to leave their animals at home if they are going shopping.

Section 711-1109 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes covers "cruelty to animals."

Among other things, someone is said to commit that misdemeanor offense of animal cruelty if he or she "intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly ... carries or causes to be carried, in or upon any vehicle or other conveyance, any animal in a cruel or inhumane manner."